What I would like you to understand is the “radical nature” of “Jesus” and “his ministry.”
This stuff is phenomenal. It is ground breaking. It is bigger than life. This is the stuff of “equality.” This is the stuff of God. It is the stuff of inclusion.
We have before us this evening two healings, two miracles really! This narrative was obviously important and necessary for inclusion by the Gospel writer Mark. It meant something. It meant a great deal. It was an important statement to be made.
With so much material, all of the evangelists had to pick and choose. They needed to be selective. They had to “order” and “frame their materials.” Mark “specifically” chose this narrative for inclusion. The other evangelists did not.
It is radical stuff. Perhaps it was too radical. Too much, over the edge, over the top…too inclusive in an age that was anything but.
No healing should have transpired. And yet they did.
I want you to know that the inclusion of these two stories speaks volumes about the ministry of Jesus. It speaks volumes about the man, his person. Who he is. What kind of a man he was.
Men did not associate with women.
Men did not touch women.
Men did not have conversation with women.
The only woman you would speak to – would be your very own wife and only in the seclusion of your home and hearth. To speak publicly was embarrassment.
This simple story that we just blow off, is indeed radical.
As you know, it is a story within a story. This is a literary technique that is featured by John Mark. He utilizes it more than this one time.
Jairus is a man of considerable status. In a society heavily influenced by issues of “honor and shame” Jairus holds a highly honorable position. He probably is not wealthy nor could he be considered rich. But he does have a considerable amount of status going for him.
Upon seeing Jesus…Jairus immediately falls at his feet. He then makes his request known. It was customary for the male “head of the family” to come and make such requests. Jairus does so, in a sociably –approved and acceptable fashion.
This man of “high status” kneels before Jesus. But the story is not about him, it is about his daughter.
As Jesus prepares to go with Jairus, the friendly crowd pressing in on him, he is interrupted by yet another encounter.
This time it involves a woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years.
This is a very Jewish story.
The issue between the two women is one of class. One is the young daughter of an honored official. The other is an older destitute and unclean woman who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all she had. In other words she was now impoverished.
The poor older woman is only getting worse. And at that very same time, the younger girl is actually dying.
Mark’s rich telling of this story invites sympathy for both women, regardless of their age or social standing.
Both were unclean and according to the “purity code” anyone and everyone they touch are rendered unclean, even by simply brushing up against them.
The older woman should not have been out and about, but she was desperate. She was as desperate as was the father of the little girl. Feelings of desperation sometimes calls for desperate measures.
The woman is healed. And Jesus feels the power going out from himself. It is her faith, her trusting that saves her or heals her. It is her trusting in Jesus that makes her well.
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ own disciples are never said to have “faith.” And yet, this anonymous, sick, destitute, unclean, impure woman does have faith.
When it comes to little the girl, Jesus could not touch her according to the law, and yet he does anyway. Jesus took no notice of these purity violations. Human need always trumps technical rules. Human need comes first. Gender did not hold Jesus back.
In the end, both women are healed. Jesus is ritually unclean. He has been touched by a woman and he has touched a corpse.
And the only thing that Jesus saw was the human need. What do you see?